Bolshoi Ballet: The Flames of Paris, Covent Garden - dance review
Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev are a ballet supercouple. To mark the end of the Bolshoi’s sell-out run in London, the both on- and off-stage partners returned as guest artists to the company where they trained, playing young lovers in revolutionary France.
The Flames of Paris is not a great work. The plot is weak, the pacing - especially the oddly rushed ending - is wrong. It is said to have been Stalin’s favourite ballet - perhaps unsurprising given the “masses over-throwing decadent tyrants” theme. Certainly, until the guillotine dropped in the second act, it felt like pro-Soviet propaganda. And yet this production was still a delight.
Osipova and Vasiliev are an exhilarating pair, with chemistry and energy in abundance. As Philippe, a revolutionary, Vasiliev was magnetic on stage. His leaping showed so little regard for gravity that it drew gasps from the audience and left his eyes flashing. Not to be outdone, Osipova - enchanting as peasant girl Jeanne - was effortless in her movements. Her fouettes were faultless, her balance otherworldly.
The guest duo may be the star attraction, but the Bolshoi does not lack home talent. Andrei Merkuriev (as Jerome, Jeanne’s brother) made an elegant pair with the aristocratic Adeline (Anastasia Stashkevich), Ruslan Skvortsov was a prancing, sexually-aggressive Marquis, and the flag-waving crowd scenes were exuberant. The only weak dance was in a ballet-within-the-ballet performed at the French court, where Kristina Kretova was the actress playing Armida, the Saracen sorceress. Her Armida seemed flat and false. Thankfully, the furies she calls on to take revenge on her lover inject drama back into the production: perfectly synchronised and suitably frightening. The youngest member of the company - a toddler kitted out as a peasant - also deserves a mention: she waved a flag, tapped her foot and made the audience smile whenever on stage.
Given the backstage scandals at the Bolshoi - which include an acid attack on the artistic director Sergei Filin - it seems impressive that they can still put on a production so filled with joy. And it should give London cause for cheer too: Osipova will soon be one of our own, joining the Royal Ballet for the 2013/ 2014 season.
